More than Enemies
by DragonSorceress22
Summary: Tsunade and Orochimaru have maintained a secret friendship over the years. Adventures ensue. M rating is for strong language and violence in later chapters... Hidan doesn't much like censorship.
1. Prologue

_**More than Enemies**_

_This story takes place shortly after Naruto, Sakura, Sai and Yamato encounter Orochimaru on the Heaven and Earth Bridge._

**Prologue**

It was a mostly quiet night in Konoha – late spring with clear, warm skies yielding a brilliant display of stars – but this tranquility did not seem to reach inside the Hotaru Sake bar. Within the small establishment there was a woman, seated all the way in the back with empty sake bottles covering her table, and she had just picked a fight with another of the bar's regulars. Both were drunk, and what had started out as just a discussion had escalated into an argument that was now dangerously close to becoming an all-out brawl. The woman had just issued a loud challenge to the man across from her when another woman ran back to their table.

"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune shouted. "I've been looking everywhere for you! What are you doing?"

"What does it look like," Tsunade said irritably. "I'm teaching this brat a lesson."

"Lady Tsunade, honestly, you need to stop doing things like this. Come on, we need to get back."

"You go," Tsunade replied. "I could use another drink."

Shizune grabbed onto Tsunade's arm as she reached for another bottle. "You've got sake back home but please, enough of this!"

Tsunade glared down at her attendant for a moment then sighed. "Fine. Let's go."

They headed out, Shizune apologizing repeatedly to the owner of the bar as they went, and returned to the Hokage's Residence. Once Shizune had seen Tsunade safely returned to her room, she wandered off to take care of some last minute work before turning in for the night herself.

But Tsunade would not sleep. She sat in the dark on her floor, a newly opened bottle of foreign alcohol she'd received from Jiraiya beside her, and thought about the last few days. The elders had been pushing her more and more about the issues with Naruto and the Akatsuki, concerns about Danzō had been weighing heavily on her mind, and the paperwork she'd been putting off was piling up. She closed her eyes and took another drink from the bottle then tried to stand, but she lost her balance. She backed up and managed to sit on the edge of her bed to keep from falling over, but the bottle slipped from her hand and shattered on the floor.

"…Damn," she murmured, sliding off the bed again and kneeling to pick up the pieces of glass. A large shard caught the moonlight streaming in through the window as she picked it up and she saw a flash of yellow and purple reflected back at her. She gasped and her hand twitched, dropping the piece of glass, but not before it had sliced into her finger.

Tsunade stayed still for a long while, staring at the shard, blood dripping softly from her cut, but there was nothing to see. Eventually she reached for it again and held it up in front of her but all she saw now was her own faded reflection. She set the glass aside and crawled onto her bed, leaving the mess on the floor. Her eyes wandered to the window as she squeezed her injured finger, trying not to look at the blood.

_Maybe it's time… to see him again._


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1—A Series of Unfortunate Coincidences**

Orochimaru wove through the trees, narrowly escaping Tsunade's punches as she chased after him. One such attack had come so close that he'd only just been able to put a large gnarled trunk between himself and her fist before it connected. The two ninja stopped their chase briefly while the giant tree collapsed, watching each other carefully through the flurry of falling leaves.

Then Tsunade smirked and brought her fist down on the forest floor. The ground cracked and buckled explosively, knocking Orochimaru off of his feet. Tsunade walked up to him, hand on her hip and a smug smirk on her face, but a moment later she was reeling back from the nest of snakes Orochimaru had brought forth. He flipped back onto his feet but Tsunade was already recovering. She punched another tree, deliberately this time, aiming to have it land on him. He leapt out of the way and up onto the felled trunk before sticking out his unnaturally long tongue at his former teammate and dashing deeper into the forest away from her.

Tsunade followed him as best she could but lost sight of him soon after they left the trees. Up ahead was a small mountain with an extensive cave system. She stepped up to the nearest opening and saw that it had been cut all the way through to the other side. Her heels clicked and echoed on the stone as she walked through the tunnel, looking around. There were several smaller passages branching off of the main channel, some that only extended a few feet and others that stretched further into the darkness than she could see.

When she reached the other side she looked out at the sky. Clouds had gathered on the horizon, slowly beginning to block the sun as evening drew near.

"Tsunade,"

She turned sharply. Orochimaru stepped out of a shadowed cavern beside her and Tsunade took a step back.

"Come any closer and you're dead," she snapped at him. The two of them were still for a moment. Then they both glanced around.

Tsunade sighed and leaned her shoulder against the cave wall. "What a pain," she muttered

Orochimaru came further into the light and tossed a corpse down on the cave floor between them. Tsunade stared at it for a moment. "Well then what was the point of staging that whole fight?" she said sourly.

"Killing him wouldn't have been necessary if you had been at all convincing. But don't worry about it. He wasn't important."

"Hmph." Tsunade turned again to look at the sky.

Orochimaru silently did the same, but he saw nothing that should have held her interest so thoroughly. "Tsunade… What's wrong?"

"What are you talking about? Nothing's wrong."

"I know you're upset," Orochimaru laughed. "You're a terrible actress."

He saw her tense. She seemed to shrink slightly as she brought her arms in closer in the familiar stance she took up when she was feeling insecure.

"…Tell me what's wrong, Tsunade," he prompted again but she remained silent. "Can't you talk to me? We've been friends since we were children."

"…And now?" she said finally. "Even you have to admit this is ridiculous." Orochimaru laughed a little again, noting the "even you" without taking offense. "I mean," she continued. "Faking a whole battle just because one of your… test subjects saw us talking?" Her eyes went to the corpse again briefly.

"We have reputations to protect," Orochimaru answered easily.

Tsunade scoffed and turned her back on the cave's opening. "Ever since I became Hokage, it's been nothing but work – caused me nothing but trouble. I didn't even want this job in the first place." She stalked off down the tunnel suddenly at a brisk pace.

"Tsunade, wait–" Orochimaru called after her, but when he moved to follow she took off at full speed back into the forest. He sighed and ran after her, quickly catching up and grabbing her wrist. She whipped around to glare at him.

"Let go of me, Oro–"

"Tsunade," he said sharply, cutting her off. Then more gently, "Come with me."

She continued to glower at him but he did not back down. Gradually she gave in, nodding slightly, and he let go of her, then headed off in the opposite direction. Tsunade followed.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2—Falling Out**

Orochimaru led Tsunade to a rocky landscape. It seemed there was nothing around for miles, but he stopped there and waited for her to catch up.

"Here," he said when Tsunade was standing beside him. She glanced around then gave him a skeptical look. Orochimaru only grinned in return. Then Tsunade saw him perform a quick succession of hand signs. He summoned a single snake and it slithered away, disappearing at the base of a rock formation nearby. A few moments later the ground trembled slightly and a cloud of dust rose up where the snake had vanished. A layer of earth crumbled away, revealing a stairway that led underground.

Orochimaru descended the stairs without a word to Tsunade. She hesitated only a moment before following him down. At the end of the passage there was a thick wooden door. Orochimaru opened it and stepped into the room beyond, but paused to wait for Tsunade to enter before closing it behind them.

Tsunade took in the room in a glance. There wasn't much to look at. It was a large, circular room carved entirely in smooth stone, and completely empty. The only features were the torches that punctuated the curved walls.

"What's this?" she asked.

"A hideout in the making," he answered. "I decided some time ago that it was too close to Konoha, so it was never finished. We can talk freely here. Your reputation will be safe."

Tsunade crossed her arms and looked away. "I don't _care._"

Orochimaru smiled. "You care."

"You don't have to be so smug about it," she muttered under her breath.

"Of course, _Lady_ _Hokage._" Orochimaru stepped away from the door and sat down against the wall.

Tsunade sat as well, a few feet from him in the open space of the large room. "Why do you care, anyway?" she asked. "You're certainly playing along readily enough."

"Any opportunity to corrupt a Leaf ninja," he said simply with a subtle shrug.

"And how _is_ Kabuto?"

"He's still useful. Of course, compared to you..."

Her tone quickly turned sharp and cold. "What are you getting at, Orochimaru?"

"Only admiring your skill," he deflected casually. "Although… if you'd rather not be Hokage, I could offer an alternative."

Tsunade scoffed. "Not this again. I didn't accept last time. I told you, I'm not interested."

"You weren't Hokage then. The situation is different now. I thought you might have… changed your mind?"

"Well, I haven't," she snapped at him. "I _still _want you back in the village."

"That would never work." He had lost all humor, knowing too well the turn their conversation had taken.

"I could make it work."

"Tsunade–"

"I'm Hokage. I should be able to help my friend. Or at least talk to you without having to lie about it."

"_Help_ me? Tsunade, why would I want to go back?"

"I–"

"I don't _want _to go back. I left on my own."

"…I know that." She sighed and leaned back on her hands. "Of course, I know that. I'm just being selfish."

"We've talked about this before."

"I know," she said quietly.

"You already know how it ends."

"I know!" Tsunade got to her feet and walked a short distance away from him toward the other end of the room.

Orochimaru stood as well, but slowly. He was grateful Tsunade's back was turned as he used the wall for support. "I don't want to have this conversation again," he said.

"Even if we don't, Jiraiya will never let it go."

Orochimaru could not help himself. He laughed and Tsunade whipped back around to glare at him.

"Is it so wrong that we want you back?"

"You want the past," he said dismissively.

"So what if we do?"

"You're as naïve as ever." He pushed himself away from the wall and headed for the door. "You haven't changed. Neither of you."

"Wait! Orochimaru!" Tsunade ran forward and grabbed his shoulder, wrenching him away from the door and turning him around to face her. She kept a firm grip on his shirt so he would not move away. Orochimaru met her eyes, his expression flat. He seemed mostly unbothered by Tsunade's actions, merely unamused.

"Okay, Orochimaru," Tsunade said, her voice low and seething. "You want to talk about something else? What about your attacks on the village? Or stealing the Uchiha boy away with promises of power when you only plan to kill him?"

Orochimaru knocked Tsunade's hand away but did not retreat or back down. "This is exactly why I am not coming back," he said coldly. "I'm tired of being questioned. I'm sick of the Leaf's cowardice – hiding behind rules and regulations–"

"Enough!" Tsunade shouted. "_I'm_ tired of sending teams after you, I'm tired of losing those teams, and I have _had it_ with your secrets and experiments!"

They stared at each other and Orochimaru was the first to look away. He turned back to the door. "…Then what are you doing here?" He waited for a reply but none came. Tsunade neither moved nor spoke even after he opened the door and stepped out to the small landing at the bottom of the stairway.

It was dark outside of the torch-lit room. It seemed that some part of the jutsu that had revealed the hideout also covered it back up once they had gone inside. In the feeble light that reached outside the door, Tsunade saw Orochimaru raise his hands and begin to form the seals once more, but they seemed much slower now. Almost clumsy.

"…Oroch–?" Tsunade cut herself off with a small gasp. Orochimaru staggered and collapsed at the bottom of the stairs. Tsunade ran to his side.

"Orochimaru! What's wrong?" She turned him onto his back. His eyes were closed. He did not respond.

The chakra was already at her hands. She laid them over his chest, attempting to heal him even as she tried to determine what was wrong, but nothing seemed to help.

"What am I supposed to do?" she whispered. "Orochimaru…"


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3—To Encourage Reluctance**

Orochimaru woke slowly and at first did not remember where he was. He sat up and immediately regretted it as sharp pain shot through his body. He endured this silently until it passed then looked around. He was back inside the room – a fact he thought strange if only for a moment before his eyes fell on Tsunade. She was asleep, sitting up against the wall on the other side of the room.

"Tsunade," Orochimaru said, but his voice was weak, hardly more than a whisper. Quiet as it was, it was enough to rouse her from her shallow sleep. She lifted her head.

"You're up," she noted mildly. "How are you feeling?"

"Well enough," was his curt reply but Tsunade was already crossing the room to see for herself.

"You should lie down," she said, sitting next to him. She reached toward him, chakra around her hand, but he pushed it away.

"I've long since lost my tolerance for standard medical jutsu."

"Well then what do you suggest I do?" Tsunade crossed her arms and glared at Orochimaru. "From what I can tell, your body's in bad shape."

He allowed himself a wicked smile. "Heh. I don't need _you_ to do _anything_. I just needed to rest for–" He stopped short and his expression was serious again. "Tsunade… hasn't it been too long since you left the village?"

"You were out for about a day," she said lightly, ignoring his question.

Orochimaru watched her expression carefully for a moment. Then the smirk returned to his face. _Interesting,_ he thought. _Well then, I certainly won't be the one driving her back. _"Tsunade, could I ask a favor of you?"


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4—The Sand**

Temari descended the stairs to Kankuro's workroom. At the door she could hear the clicking of parts from within, and she took an extra moment to listen before knocking lightly.

"Yeah, what is it?"

Temari laughed a little to herself and opened the door. Kankuro looked up from the puppet on the table. "Oh, Temari. What's up?" The clicking started up again as he continued to work and Temari moved across from him to get a closer look.

"Gaara wants to see us," she said. Her hand wandered over a detached limb. "Hey… isn't this Black Ant?"

Kankuro was already laying his tools aside and cleaning up. "Yeah. He needed some adjustments." They left the workshop together, heading for the Kazekage's office.

"Some adjustments?" Temari repeated as they walked. "It was completely disassembled!"

"That's the best way to do it! Black Ant's one of my main puppets, I've got to be able to rely on him, so he's got to be perfect."

The door was standing open when they arrived, but the room was dark. Gaara was inside, his back to the doorway as he stared out of one of the small windows. It was dusk and the buildings were casting heavy shadows throughout the village.

"What are you standing around in the dark for?" Temari asked. She turned on the light as she and Kankuro entered, closing the door behind them.

Kankuro immediately made note of the gourd on Gaara's back. "What's going on," Kankuro asked seriously. It was unusual for him to wear it anymore unless he was expecting a battle.

Gaara half turned, a small scroll in his extended hand as answer to Kankuro's question. Temari took it and, when Gaara turned back to the window without elaborating, assumed they were meant to read it. She opened the scroll and read carefully, Kankuro looking over her shoulder.

The scroll contained a brief, decoded message from the Leaf Village.

_Early May 1__st__, Lady Hokage left the village on routine business, due to return that evening. An hour before sundown, a team returning to the Leaf with an escort assignment saw the Hokage engaged in battle with the rogue ninja Orochimaru. Reinforcements were sent to the location but they were unable to locate either one._

"Why didn't the team stop and help her when they first saw her?" Kankuro wondered aloud. Gaara answered but did not turn to him.

"They were on an escort mission. It was either one jōnin with a team of genin and their assignment, or a team of jōnin escorting a very important contact or diplomat who could not be put at risk."

"Oh… yeah, I guess–"

"Shut up a minute; there's more," Temari said impatiently. She unrolled the scroll a little farther.

_We currently have a team attempting to track them, but have yet to find any indication as to where either has gone. We advise the Sand to be alert in the event that the Hokage's disappearance is discovered before such time as we are able to find her, or find out what happened to her._

A tense, fragile silence fell over the three siblings. Temari's hands fell to her sides. She didn't even close the scroll, leaving the unraveled length of script hanging at her side. Both she and Kankuro jumped when they noticed the sand swirling around it. Temari dropped the scroll instinctively, jerking her hand back as if she'd been burned. She and Kankuro both took a step back.

The scroll had not fallen when Temari dropped it. It had drifted upward, carried by the churning sand that was now enveloping it so completely that the scroll could no longer be seen. The sand began to constrict and condense, pulling tighter and tighter together around it. Then Kankuro saw Gaara's fisted hand relax and the sand separated as it began streaming back into the gourd. As it went, pale dust poured out from the sand and accumulated on the floor in a small, neat pile – all that was left of the scroll.

After a moment of silence Gaara spoke again. "I want you to go to Konoha," he said quietly.

"Of course," Temari answered.

"We'll put a team together right away," Kankuro added, but Gaara shook his head.

"Just the two of you."

"What?" Temari said.

"Just the two of us?" Kankuro repeated. "Gaara, when you were captured by the Akatsuki they sent seven ninja to help us – everyone they had who wasn't already on a mission! The least we could do–"

"The most we can do," Gaara interrupted, finally turning to them. "Is send you two."

"What are you talking about?" Kankuro insisted. "We–"

"We can't spare any more."

Kankuro fell silent. Gaara continued. "Our village has only just begun to recover from the chaos resulting from the Akatsuki's attack and… my absence. Suspicions of traitors and people under the effects of enemy jutsu have arisen and we cannot risk the Leaf's safety, and by extension the Sand's, by sending anyone less than absolutely trustworthy. Keeping the Hokage's absence a secret is the most important part of this mission."

Temari's eyes slid to the little pile of dust briefly before focusing on Gaara again.

"If this is not resolved quickly and quietly, the Leaf – and their allies – could find themselves in the middle of another war."


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5—Target**

"Favor?" Tsunade said skeptically. "What kind of a favor?"

"One that will benefit both of us, surely," Orochimaru answered with a shrug. "I have tracked down a member of the Akatsuki."

Tsunade stared at him. "How?" was her first question – one she could not stop herself asking.

Orochimaru smirked at her. "Now, Tsunade, you can't expect me to just give up my secrets so easily."

"Then why are you telling me this, Orochimaru? Get to the point."

"I need to confront him. I'd like your help."

This time Tsunade had so many questions she could not pick one to voice and said nothing. Orochimaru continued. "You most likely have some valuable information on this particular member. You've sent a few Leaf ninja to fight him already and they came back alive – they even successfully wounded him, and killed his partner."

"Deidara," Tsunade muttered.

"Yes, exactly," Orochimaru hissed. "I'd like to have a little chat with him. Really… pick his brain." His smirk became a grin and even after he amended, "so to speak," Tsunade had a feeling he was not speaking figuratively.

"And you think just the two of us will be enough," she said flatly. "With you in the condition you're in. The Akatsuki can't be taken lightly. You're talking about the same man who stole the Kazekage right out of his village singlehandedly."

"And who lost his arm in the process, and another needlessly afterwards. And need I remind you that the _Kazekage _is a child. Hardly the stuff of legends like–"

"Like us," Tsunade finished for him. "But the Legendary Sannin are a _team _of _three._ Not this," she gestured to Orochimaru and herself. "This is pathetic."

"Do you not want the Akatsuki gone? I'm offering you the opportunity to be rid of one more. We both benefit."

"We need Jiraiya," Tsunade muttered.

"And how would that work? If you return to the village to find him you'll be thrown back behind that desk the moment you set foot within the gate." Tsunade bit her lip unconsciously. Her eyes went to an empty corner of the room. "And even if this were not the case, you could not bring Jiraiya into this without the issue of our friendship being secret from even him until now. It would only bring mistrust and make our old teamwork impossible.

"Just do me this favor, Tsunade. Help me fight Deidara."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "How are you benefitting from this? Why is it so important to you?"

After a few moments' hesitation, Orochimaru said, "You ask because you do not entirely trust me. I do not answer for the same reason."

"Tell me this, at least," said Tsunade, looking him in the eye. "Are you just after the Akatsuki… or is it Deidara you want?"

He met her gaze and answered, "Deidara."


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6—Preparation**

Orochimaru and Tsunade spent the next several hours in preparation for the mission they would soon be undertaking. Much of this time was spent in Orochimaru bringing Tsunade up to speed on the information he had gathered about Deidara, though Tsunade got the feeling he was really only telling her as much as he deemed necessary.

Unfortunately, even with their combined knowledge, there were far too many variables to form a solid plan. The only real course of action that could be decided upon at that point was when they would set out to track Deidara down.

It was dawn when they finished their preparations. They decided to leave that evening and take the time before then to rest. This was mostly upon Tsunade's insistence, for just as they were finalizing their plans, Orochimaru was overcome by a fit of coughing.

At first Tsunade only looked on piteously. The weak cough was something she had gotten used to as they were working on their plans, but she quickly saw that this was much worse. Orochimaru had been cut off midsentence and could not seem to recover as quickly as he previously had. Then, with a tremor, his body folded and he doubled over where he sat, his head bowed and his long hair falling forward, hiding his face. Tsunade was beside him almost instantly then, her arm around his shoulders as she tried to support him, but he would not, or could not, raise his head. She felt helpless and it was Orochimaru's fault. He had rejected her medical jutsu at every turn and for a moment she wondered bitterly if he enjoyed depriving her of the skill for which she was most well-known.

_Who am I kidding?_ she thought. _This is Orochimaru. Of course he enjoys it._

Tsunade hesitated a moment then pressed her palm to Orochimaru's back and let her chakra flow. He raised his head then, just slightly, and the yellow eyes glared at her from behind his dark hair. He tried to pull away but his body would not cooperate and the hand that had been covering his mouth went to the floor as he attempted to steady himself. When he moved it, a blurred handprint of blood was left on the smooth stone.

The moment Orochimaru was able to catch his breath, he knocked Tsunade's hand away.

"Why won't you let me help?" Tsunade demanded as Orochimaru began coughing again.

"It's not help," he answered, his voice ragged. "It is wasted effort. I told you–"

"This isn't a matter of preference, Orochimaru. You're dying. You need help and, as luck would have it, I'm the best damn medical ninja in the Land of Fire."

"It's nothing you can fix; surely you realize that."

Tsunade met his gaze and saw challenge in his eyes, but she did realize what was happening, and he was right. There was nothing she could do.

"You're almost out of time, aren't you?" she said quietly. "That body is rejecting you. There's no reversing that."

"I have Sasuke. I am not worried."

Tsunade stood and moved away from him. "…We should delay heading out and get some rest. We can leave this evening, when we're ready." She laid down by the far wall, her back to Orochimaru, and was quiet – either asleep or pretending to be.

Orochimaru looked down at the blood on his hand and for a moment questioned whether he should have left Kabuto in the dark about what he was doing. But the thought passed, and he lowered himself carefully to the floor to rest and recover before the mission began.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7—Jiraiya: Gutsy Ninja**

Jiraiya appeared rather suddenly in an upper window of the Hokage's Residence in Konoha, startling a young woman from the cipher corps who was rushing past.

"Hey there," Jiraiya said, grinning. "What's the hurry?"

"There's been a response from the Sand," she answered, and her hand closed tighter around a small scroll.

"I see." Jiraiya climbed down from the windowsill to join her in the hallway. "And who are you rushing that response to?"

"Shizune."

"Hmm, don't bother. She's with the elders right now. Here, I'll take it." He held out his hand but the woman did not hand over the scroll.

"Won't the elders want to see it too?" she said.

"Er, no."

She raised her eyebrows.

"I mean yes, of course. Look, don't worry about it. I'll take care of it."

"No disrespect, Master Jiraiya, but I think I better just take this to Shizune. You can come with, if you want."

Jiraiya sighed. "No, that won't work. Oh well. Good thing this was my last stop."

"What – Ah!" The woman jumped slightly; Jiraiya had disappeared, leaving behind only wisps of white smoke. She sighed and shook her head. "I wonder what all that was about."

She looked down at the scroll in her hand and felt her face turn white. Instead of the scroll, she was holding a small book, and as she stared at it, wondering what to say to Shizune and the elders, her eyes glanced over the title.

[X]

Shizune stepped out of the meeting room and closed the door behind her with a sigh. "Don't see why they came to talk to me if they were just going to ask me to leave anyway," she muttered.

On the other side of the door, the Leaf Village elders, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, were discussing something they apparently did not want Shizune to be included in. After quickly demanding to know all Shizune knew of the current situation with the Hokage, they had dismissed her from the room.

Shizune leaned back against the door for a moment. It was silent inside the room and she knew they were waiting for her to truly leave.

"Oh, Tonton, there you are." Shizune stooped to pick up the little pig that had just come around the corner. She had been moping since the previous night when Tsunade had not returned. "Don't worry," Shizune said softly. "It'll be all right. She'll come back, you'll see. She's got to." She held Tonton a little closer.

"Ah, Shizune, perhaps you could help us." Ebisu walked up to her and Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon trailed after him, along with a short bald man with glasses. "This is Mr. Umino," Ebisu said, gesturing to the stranger. "He is a specialist who was called in to help with some paperwork but things got a little hectic, what with the incident on our way back and all. Anyway, he was supposed to finish his business here today and we are to escort him home again but since–"

"Ah, yes, of course!" Shizune said quickly. "Since Lady Tsunade is so busy today, I'll do my best to help."

"Don't worry, my dear," the little man said, stepping forward. "I've been doing this for years. It won't be much trouble."

"Right this way then, sir," Shizune said, turning to lead him to the Hokage's office.

"Oh, Shizune, did Jiraiya find you all right?" Ebisu asked.

Shizune stopped. "No… Did he need something?"

Ebisu adjusted his sunglasses. "Well he was getting all the details about… yesterday… from me. He said you had asked him to find out about it for you."

"What?" Shizune said. "I never–"

A loud voice from down the hallway cut her off. "I don't care if she's busy, I want to talk to her! What's the big deal?" Naruto came into view, closely followed by Sakura.

"Naruto, I told you, you can't bother her today! Will you please just go home?"

Naruto ignored her. He had spotted Shizune. "Hey, Shizune!" he called, running up to her. "Where's Grandma Tsunade?"

Behind him, Sakura was waving her hands urgently and mouthing, "Don't tell him!"

Shizune let out a breath. _Thank goodness,_ she thought. _He doesn't know._

"Lady Tsunade is very busy today, Naruto. Sakura's right, you should go home."

"What's all this?"

_What now?_ Shizune thought. Warily she turned toward the new voice.

Three jōnin had joined the growing crowd outside the meeting room door. Shizune recognized them immediately as the team that had been sent out to track down Tsunade and Orochimaru.

"But why are you back? Did you find something?" she asked anxiously. Her hold on Tonton tightened a little and the pig let out a small squeal of protest.

"What?" one of the jōnin said. "No, Jiraiya told us to return to the village."

"_What?_" Shizune almost screamed.

Then someone did scream. It echoed down the hallway along with the sound of running footsteps coming toward them. The woman from the cipher corps rounded the bend, waving a copy of _Make-Out Paradise _furiously. "Unbelievable!" she was shouting. "That perverted old man's gone crazy! Shizune!"

Shizune flinched. She had a feeling she knew what the woman was about to tell her.

"Shizune, I'm sorry but Jiraiya took the scroll with the Sand Village's reply. He said he was going to give it to you but I really don't think–"

Just then, the door to the meeting room opened and the two elders joined the dozen people already packed into the hallway.

"What on earth is all this commotion out here?" Koharu snapped.

Shizune felt the weight of the small crowd's collective stares and shrunk back toward the wall. Everyone was looking at her – except Naruto. His attention was on the cipher corps woman.

"Pervy Sage took something? Wait, you said the Sand Village. What's going on?"


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8—Dreams**

_Tsunade stood alone in Konoha once again. It was night, very late or early morning, and all the houses were dark and quiet. She stood before the Hokage's Residence, staring up at the mountain behind it. The shadow of the faces immortalized there seemed to press upon her with the weight of the very rock that formed them. She tried to look away but her eyes were drawn to the Third Hokage's face against her will. As she stared, the stone eyes shifted, grinding against their rigid sockets, dust pouring from them like blood as they moved to fix on her. Terrified but still unable to look away, Tsunade fell to her knees and tried to cover her face, but her arms would not respond. Finally her gaze was released and she looked down at her unmoving limbs. Her arms were dead and cold, discolored as Orochimaru's had been when he first approached her some three years ago – as though the Third had bound Tsunade as well with his death. Shaking violently, she collapsed onto the ground and screamed._

"_Tsunade,"_

_There was a warm touch on her shoulder. Her arms had life again and she was covering her face, curled up on the base of the black stone war memorial. She sat up slowly and saw Jiraiya kneeling beside her, his hand on her shoulder. Orochimaru was there as well, standing beside him with a wry smirk on his face._

"_Really, Tsunade, get a hold of yourself," he said._

_She tried to speak but though her lips moved, there was no sound. Jiraiya stood and he and Orochimaru began to walk away from her, each in a different direction._

"_Wait," she said, but her voice still did not come and her friends were already disappearing. She scrambled to her feet and ran after them but something caught her ankle and she fell. When she looked up, Jiraiya and Orochimaru were gone. She looked back at the memorial stone. A chain ran from its base and was locked around her ankle. Tsunade reached for it but a red light reflected off of the metal and caught her eye. She looked up at the glossy black surface of the monument. There, in burning lettering, she saw the names of her little brother and Dan. The letters blurred behind her tears, but the light of the manifested Will of Fire only burned brighter until she felt its heat on her face, and the flames crept down from the stone to engulf her…_

[X]

Tsunade woke with a start. Her hands were shaking with the buzz of chakra, her body responding to what her mind had concocted. The dream slipped away from her almost immediately, leaving her with only a vague feeling of unease.

Across the room, Orochimaru was resting quietly. She watched him for a short while. Watched his breathing. He slept soundly – more soundly than she would have thought possible knowing the condition his body was in.

_He can't last much longer this way,_ she thought.

Tsunade sighed and got to her feet, feeling stiff and not at all well-rested. She was grateful that they had a bit of a run ahead of them to wake her up before the real trouble started. She walked over to Orochimaru and knelt to wake him but he sat up on his own before she could touch him.

"I'll never understand why you insist on wearing those ridiculous shoes," he said. "They make far too much noise. It's impractical."

"Well excuse me," Tsunade sneered. "Now get up. It's time." She headed for the door. "Let's go."


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9—Messenger**

It was midnight and Temari and Kankuro were little more than a day's journey out from the Sand Village when they stopped to rest.

"I'll take the first watch," Kankuro said, setting down his scrolls. "You get some rest. We can switch in a few hours."

Temari didn't argue. She was grateful for the chance to take a break and relax, though she was still worried. She removed the fan from her back and laid it across her lap as she leaned back against a tree. "The Hokage's been missing for more than two days now," she thought aloud. "It's got to be nerve-racking, not knowing what's happened."

"Cheer up," Kankuro said. "You know, it's possible everything will be sorted out before we even get there."

Temari scoffed. "That's optimistic."

"Well, you never know."

"Hey there! I finally found you two!"

Temari and Kankuro were both on their feet in an instant, fan and scrolls open, ready to attack. Then Jiraiya dropped into their little clearing, his hands raised placidly. Neither of the siblings dropped their guard.

"Temari," Kankuro said, staring at Jiraiya through the darkness. "Isn't he one of the Legendary Sannin of the Leaf?"

"Yeah," Temari said slowly. "Jiraiya, isn't it? I think I've seen him around Konoha."

"I've been looking for you two," Jiraiya said. "You're heading to Konoha, right? I was wondering if you could do me a favor when you get there." He saw Kankuro and Temari exchange a quick glance in which they apparently decided to trust him, for they lowered their weapons, though Temari did not close the fan.

"What do you need?" she asked.

"Things are really crazy back at the village – I'm sure you can imagine – so if you could just let everyone know that I've already figured out where Tsunade is and that there's no need to worry–"

"You know where she is?" Temari interrupted.

"Where is she then? What's going on?" interjected Kankuro.

"I told you, it's nothing to worry about. Still, it'd be best if everyone keeps it quiet that she's not in the village right now. It'll be a little while before she comes back."

"How long is 'a little while'?" Kankuro asked.

"A few days… should be," Jiraiya said evasively.

"Is she in trouble? Maybe we should go with you instead," Temari said.

"No, no, don't worry about it. I've got everything under control. Now, here," He pulled out the scroll with the Sand Village's reply and handed it to Kankuro. "You might need this. The border patrol is going to be extremely cautious toward ninja from other villages and they won't be expecting you, so be careful." He turned to leave.

"Hey wait," Kankuro said.

"What do you mean they won't be expecting us?" Temari insisted. "I'm sure Gaara sent a reply."

"Yep," Jiraiya said and he pointed to the scroll in Kankuro's hand. Then he took off into the trees before they could ask any more questions.

Temari and Kankuro were left slightly shell-shocked. Eventually Kankuro broke the silence.

"That was… weird," he said.

"Yeah. But you know… if he's got it all figured out already, are we still needed in Konoha? Maybe we should turn back – it might be faster to go home and send a hawk with his message."

"But Temari," Kankuro said. "They might still need our help in the village and we said we would go, so we should go. Besides," he finished a little more quietly. "I like visiting Konoha."

"Ah ha, the true motive comes out," Temari teased.

"What about you? Don't you want to see that Shikamaru kid?"

Temari punched Kankuro's arm. "Shut up."

"Ow! Temari! What was that for?"

She closed her fan and sat down against the tree again. "Keep watch, I'm going to sleep," she said.

"But we _are_ still going, right?"

"Yes, of course," she sighed but when Kankuro turned away to gather his scrolls she smiled.

[X]

Jiraiya rushed through the trees with hardly any idea of where he should be heading.

"Why is it nobody really believes me when I lie lately?" he muttered to himself. "It's all questions and suspicion. I guess the Sannin haven't proven themselves to be very reliable…" _Tsunade… Just what the hell are you doing? Where did you go?_


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10—Trigger**

The sun was setting when Orochimaru and Tsunade found it. The forest they had been traveling through came to an abrupt end at the edge of a ravine. Directly below was a wide but gentle river flowing at the foot of the sheer rock face and level with the wide mouth of a large cave on its opposite shore. Just outside of the cave there stood an enormous white bird. Tsunade squinted down at it from across the ravine.

"What is that?" she asked.

"It's one of his jutsu. That one is used for transportation. He's here."

Tsunade nodded. "All right then. Let's get this over with." She was about to take a step when Orochimaru grabbed her shoulder and held her back.

"Look."

She followed his gaze and at first did not see anything at all. Then a fiery ray of sunlight cast a quick gleam off of nothing and she realized what it was. Thin wires were pulled tight across the trees ahead, some even reaching down from branches to the ground at the edge of the cliff

"Traps?" she murmured. "Or just alarms."

"Either way, we don't want to trigger them. We should find a way around–" He was cut off again as coughing shook his body once more. He put his hand out to steady himself against a tree until it subsided and he could catch his breath.

"…We should check the area carefully while we still have light," he said quietly.

They split up and checked the cliff and forest edges, making note of where the traps and alarms were set as best they could. They'd agreed to meet back where they had started, but neither returned soon enough to see the tiny white clay spider crawl out from the tree Orochimaru had used for support.

Tsunade returned to their meeting place but it was several minutes before Orochimaru made it back. He was moving slowly and when he reached Tsunade he almost collapsed. She caught his arm quickly and held him up.

_It took us a whole day to travel here,_ Tsunade thought. _It was too much for him._ "We've got more information now," she said. "Let's get some distance and come up with a plan."

Orochimaru agreed but he could not walk on his own and Tsunade supported him as they retreated from the cliff edge. They were making tediously slow progress and Orochimaru was so quiet that Tsunade felt sure he was only semiconscious at best.

"…Thought about killing you," she muttered tentatively. Orochimaru did not respond and she gained some confidence, assuming he could not hear her. "When you were lying there, back in your old hideout," she continued. "Thought about it a couple of times. Thought up a couple of ways to do it. Stabbing your own sword through your throat would have been the most satisfying… Probably wouldn't have done the trick though, knowing you." She felt better for saying it. It was something she felt guilty for considering and she preferred not to have it on her mind if they were going into battle together.

It was silent in the forest again for a moment, making it all the more startling when Orochimaru spoke.

"You tried to save me," he said faintly, and slight color rose to Tsunade's cheeks. "You stayed with me. You didn't return to Konoha." He lifted his head and Tsunade felt him take on a little more of his own weight. "If you were acting as Hokage, you would have killed me and returned. If you wanted a quiet compromise, you would have just left then, without doing anything. You _stayed._"

"Well that's… that's just entirely beside the point," Tsunade said.

"What point?" Orochimaru laughed softly. "I thought we were just… thinking out loud."


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11—Akatsuki**

The little spider leapt from the cliff edge and landed with a springy bounce on the riverbank outside the cave. It skittered up to the entrance as laughter echoed from within.

Inside the cave, Deidara was standing very still and trying very hard not to lose patience with Kakuzu's partner, Hidan, as Kakuzu reattached Deidara's arms.

"Do you see this pussy, Kakuzu?" Hidan said gleefully. "He looks petrified!" He threw his head back and laughed. "Not such a hotshot now that that fuckin' kid got your arms, huh? _Huh?_"

"Hey, Kakuzu, how do you get this guy to shut up?" Deidara grumbled, glaring at Hidan.

"Don't be so impatient; you'll end up just like him," Kakuzu said as he finished Deidara's right arm and moved to start on the left. "And Hidan, you should realize that Deidara is just a kid himself – his battle experience can't compare to old immortals like us."

Deidara's distain and annoyance at Kakuzu's first comment compounded with this additional insult but he held his tongue, extremely conscious of the living threads wriggling in the skin of his left arm.

"Besides," Kakuzu continued. "The Kazekage only took one of his arms. The other was lost to the copy ninja, Kakashi."

Deidara felt a final tug as the threads tightened into place and Kakuzu stepped away. He raised his hands, flexing his fingers and testing the joints of the arms, and the tongues in his palms lolled lazily, not quite recovered yet from having been separated from his body. When Deidara stooped to pick up his cloak, he saw the spider skittering up to him.

"Well, what do we have here?" He held out his hand and the spider crawled onto his fingers. He lifted it to eye level. "It seems we have visitors. Hm." He pushed the spider into one of the pouches at his side and pulled on the cloak, already heading for the cave entrance. "Let's see who it is."

He stayed just inside the cave, peering around the wall to check the top of the cliff across the river. Slipping a hand under his hair, he adjusted the scope over his left eye to focus in on a particular tree near the ledge. At first, it seemed there was no one around, but soon Tsunade returned to the spot to wait for Orochimaru.

"Well, well. This is unexpected. What's the Hokage doing out here I wonder. Hm." He continued to watch but she only stood there, though as the minutes passed she seemed to get increasingly anxious. Then Orochimaru appeared and Deidara saw him fall, saw Tsunade catch him, read her lips as she told him, "We've got more information now. Let's get some distance and come up with a plan." They headed away from the cliff edge, Orochimaru relying heavily on Tsunade for support, and Deidara moved back into the cave.

"It seems two of the Legendary Sannin have found their way here. Hm. What do you think, Kakuzu? Want to help me take them out?"

"We're supposed to be hunting Jinchūriki," Kakuzu said.

"But I need to test these arms out before then, don't I?" Deidara said eagerly, flexing his fingers again.

"I've said it before. You're too impatient. Why should I help you?"

"Well, it looks like they're going to come back and attack us anyway." Deidara shrugged. "You might as well help me out. Hm."

Hidan came over to them. "What about me?" he demanded. "If there's some atheist shitheads out there, let me take care of 'em. I can tell them about Jashinism."

Deidara grimaced. "No, that's all right. I'm sure Kakuzu and I can handle it, right Kakuzu? Hm." He nodded confidently but Kakuzu did not seem receptive to the idea.

"Look," Deidara tried again. "It'll be worth your while. I'm sure the Sannin have some very nice bounties on their heads. Hm."

"Hmm," Kakuzu was quiet for a minute, thinking over his answer. When he had decided, he said, "It would be troublesome to have them attack us. Go set up some traps around the cave. If they get past those, I'll fight with you. But if I help you, you have to agree to keep the bodies recognizable for the bounty."

"It's a deal," Deidara said. "Now, let me see about those traps…"


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12—Caught**

At midnight, Tsunade and Orochimaru returned to the edge of the ravine, Orochimaru much stronger for the rest he had gotten.

"It's over this way," Tsunade said, leading him toward a spot along the ledge where the wires were spread thin. They moved forward, but Deidara was watching from below. The moment they broke through the trees, he set off a bomb in the ledge and the ground exploded into pieces beneath their feet.

Both of them brought chakra to their hands and feet immediately, intending to catch a secure hold on the ravine wall. They were too late to see their mistake. The cliffside was crawling with clay spiders, and just as Tsunade had gotten a hold they exploded, throwing both Tsunade and Orochimaru away from the wall and down into the river below.

Kakuzu stepped out of the cave to join Deidara on the bank. "Have you had your fun now?" he asked as the last of the rocks from the broken ledge crashed into the river and the waves began to calm.

"Oh, it's far from over," Deidara said. "And I've got a few more surprises set up, too. Hm."

[X]

Orochimaru and Tsunade crawled onto the bank a good distance downriver from the cave. They paused there to catch their breath but it wasn't a minute before Orochimaru stood. "Let's go, Tsunade," he said. "We can't allow him to make the next move." But Tsunade did not stand. She stayed on the ground, trembling slightly, and kept her eyes closed. Orochimaru had seen it before.

"Open your eyes, Tsunade," he ordered sharply. "Stand up!"

When she did not move he lost his patience with her. Tsunade felt his hand close around her upper arm and she was dragged to her feet. He let go of her then and she remained standing but still would not open her eyes.

"There's no blood," Orochimaru said impatiently. "The wounds were cauterized. What little blood there was, the river washed away. You're making it worse by not looking."

Tsunade's trembling slowly quieted and she hesitantly opened her eyes, glancing over Orochimaru's wounds and then her own. They'd both been burned by the explosions but their injuries were not serious and there was very little blood. She sighed.

"Honestly, Tsunade," Orochimaru said accusingly. "I thought you had overcome that."

"…Not entirely," she said, her voice still a little shaky. Then she added defensively, "It's not really something I want to put to the test."

"If I had known this was still an issue I might have rethought this whole thing. No wonder you said we needed Jiraiya."

Tsunade's feelings wavered between guilt and annoyance but she did not dwell on it. "After all that… he must know we're here," she said, focusing back on their mission.

"Let's go." Orochimaru turned and started running back upriver, Tsunade following closely.

When they reached the cave entrance they saw that they were too late. Deidara had already made his next move. The mouth of the cave was rimmed with another swarm of spiders and Deidara stood inside wearing a satisfied smirk as Orochimaru and Tsunade stopped, wary of the trap.

"Orochimaru, look," Tsunade said suddenly. "His arms…"

"Interesting…" Orochimaru murmured, staring into the cave.

"Glad you made it back," Deidara called to them. "It would have been no fun at all if that was all it took.

"Let me tell you about those spiders on the entrance there. If anything enters this cave – a person, a summon, a weapon, even just chakra – if _anything_ crosses that threshold, it all explodes, and there's enough there to level the whole area. Hm."

"That's ridiculous," Tsunade scoffed. "This stupid brat. He'll blow _himself_ up, too."

"Of course not," Deidara said smoothly. "I came prepared. So then, what will you do? Hm."

"Well, he can't stay in there forever," Tsunade muttered to Orochimaru.

"And we can't stay out here waiting forever," Orochimaru said.

"Fine." Tsunade held up her fist. "Then I'll just make a _new_ entrance."

Orochimaru caught her shoulder before she could take a step. "Don't be so reckless. You could collapse the whole cave and get us all blown to pieces."

"Well, I don't see you coming up with any plans."

"There must be a weakness to it somewhere."

They continued to deliberate, focused on the problem before them and oblivious to the large bird whose mouth was slowly opening behind them. Two smaller birds shot out of it and flew at Orochimaru's and Tsunade's backs. They heard the wings and turned, but too late. The birds were practically upon them already.

Then, suddenly, everything went black as an earth-shaking bang sounded all around them, echoing off of the ravine and cave walls.


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13—Clash**

Tsunade's eyes were open but it was suddenly too dark to see. All she could tell was that she was in a tightly enclosed space, so small she could hardly move. Then, as if a curtain had been pulled back, the stars were there and she could see the sky and move freely again. She took a step back and saw Jiraiya standing between her and Orochimaru, his hair shirking back to normal after protecting them all from the blast.

Inside the cave, Deidara turned to Kakuzu. "Would you look at that, Kakuzu? A complete set. I bet that'll fetch a nice price. Hm."

"Don't get cocky, Deidara," Kakuzu said, watching the three outside the cave. "This won't be easy."

Tsunade stared up at Jiraiya. "How did you–?"

"I saw explosions," he said. "Thought it was a pretty good bet you were here. Good thing I don't lose all my bets like you, huh?" he added, nudging her playfully with his elbow.

"Never mind that," Orochimaru cut in. "Look."

He was pointing to the ground in front of the cave. The explosion had thrown rocks and debris everywhere, even past the spiders.

"But the bombs…" Tsunade muttered.

"I think the boy was bluffing," Orochimaru said with a grin. "He's better at it than you, Tsunade," he quipped.

"All right, that's enough out of both of y– Orochimaru! What are you doing!?"

Orochimaru ran into the cave and attacked Deidara, sending dozens of snakes at him, each with a sword protruding from its mouth, but before they could reach him, they were engulfed in flame and fell to the floor as little more than smoldering ashes. Orochimaru followed the direction of the attack and saw Kakuzu completing the jutsu, and Hidan sitting off to the side behind him, looking bored.

Tsunade and Jiraiya ran up beside Orochimaru.

"So it's three-on-three," Jiraiya said, glancing around the cave.

"It wasn't supposed to be," Tsunade said through gritted teeth as she glared at Orochimaru. "Whatever information you were going off of, it was almost completely wrong."

"It just took us too long to get here," Orochimaru countered. "If we had been quicker he might have still been alone and crippled."

"Well guess who was the one slowing us down," Tsunade snapped back.

"Guys, guys, come on. Can't we all just get along?" Jiraiya said. Orochimaru and Tsunade both glared at him. "I guess not. Never mind."

"Oi, Kakuzu!" Hidan suddenly shouted. "These cocksuckers are annoying. Can't I just kill 'em all?"

"Stay out of this," Deidara said irritably. "I won't have you stealing my thunder."

"Leave it alone, Hidan," Kakuzu added. "Deidara and I have an agreement."

As Hidan broke into a string of profanities, Tsunade attempted to fill Jiraiya in on the situation.

"The blonde there, Deidara," she said quietly. "He's the only one we have information on. He's a long-range fighter, so the plan is to have Orochimaru distract him so one of us can get in close and take him down. But we didn't count on more enemies…"

"I got it," Jiraiya said. "It sounds like you and Orochimaru have this all worked out. I'll take care of the spare."

Tsunade thought he'd sounded a little insulted, maybe even slightly hurt by the situation. She expected no less. "Jiraiya…"

"Don't worry about it," he said, already walking away from them and toward Kakuzu. "It's a good plan. Just focus on your part."

Tsunade watched him go, but Orochimaru pulled her focus back to Deidara. He was keeping his distance, standing off near the back of the cave, already working new clay in each of his hands.

"I don't know what you're doing here really," he said. "But this should be a lot of fun. Hm." He opened his hands to reveal two four-winged birds and sent them flying at Orochimaru and Tsunade. Tsunade tensed, prepared to dodge, but a large brown snake suddenly rose up and caught the birds, swallowing them whole. A moment later, the snake exploded, pieces of it flying in every direction as Orochimaru laughed.

"Gross!" Jiraiya shouted as he and Kakuzu were showered with bits of charred reptile, but neither backed down as each tried to overpower and push the other back, their kunai sparking against each other.

Orochimaru had a look of great satisfaction on his face as Deidara started yelling as well. "You ruined it! My explosions are masterpieces and you turned it into a rain of snake guts! Ah!" Deidara bent back into a bridge, just barely dodging Tsunade's fist. He tried to kick her as he flipped up into a handstand to right himself, but she caught his foot instead and he was lifted off of the ground.

Tsunade spun sharply and flung Deidara at the cave wall. He was able to recover enough to minimize the damage, but the second his feet were on the floor again a sword stabbed through the sleeve of his cloak, pinning it to the stone behind him. The snake on the end of the sword slid off of the hilt and darted up to Deidara's neck so fast he didn't have time to catch it. It constricted around his throat, tightening even as he tried to pull it loose, but a moment later it didn't matter. Tsunade ran up to him and plunged her fist into his stomach. The stone behind him cracked and the one eye Tsunade could see rolled back. Then there was a dull pop and all that was left was a splatter of distorted clay on the cave wall.

"Rrgh, a clone," Tsunade muttered.

On the other side of the cave, Jiraiya and Kakuzu were using only kunai as they tried to get a feel for how the other fought, but Jiraiya was getting impatient. He knew Kakuzu was hiding his abilities, and trying to figure out exactly what he was dealing with was enough of a distraction to provide Kakuzu with an opening. He ducked under one of Jiraiya's attacks and slashed with his blade in a wide arc. Jiraiya just barely managed to jump out of the way and then dodged around Kakuzu to get behind him. He stabbed with his kunai, confident Kakuzu would not be able to completely avoid the attack at such close range. The blade found its mark, but instead of digging into Kakuzu's hand, it only struck against it as though it had hit stone instead of flesh.

_Some kind of earth-style jutsu,_ Jiraiya thought.

Kakuzu grabbed the blade with his hardened hand and broke it, catching Jiraiya off guard enough to jab his elbow into his ribs and throw him back. But before he even hit the ground, Jiraiya vanished. The damage Kakuzu dealt had released the clone jutsu.

The real Jiraiya ran up behind Kakuzu, a rasengan spinning fiercely in his hand. Kakuzu turned toward the attack. He performed his hand signs quickly, calling forth wind chakra from one of his stolen hearts and firing off several large bullets of air. Jiraiya could hardly see them coming but he charged forward and the rasengan collided head on with one of them. The resulting backfire sent Jiraiya flying. He landed flat on his back several yards away and rolled onto his side, trying to get back to his feet, but the air had been knocked from his lungs. He managed to get to his hands and knees as he gasped for breath.

_Fire… earth… wind… Just what the hell is with this guy?_

Meanwhile, Orochimaru and Tsunade were scanning the cave, trying to locate Deidara after discovering the clay clone. Deidara took the chance to sneak up behind Orochimaru, a miniature clay centipede in his hand. He let it go and it grew instantly to over eight feet and charged at him. Orochimaru spun around, his hand outstretched, and an equally large snake shot forth. The two creatures collided, wrapping around each other as if each was trying to crush the other.

Orochimaru jumped back a little ways, expecting an explosion from the centipede, but none came and Tsunade saw why. The centipede was a distraction, diverting attention away from the little spider that was creeping up onto Orochimaru's shoulder. Tsunade picked up a piece of rock blown loose by a previous explosion and threw it at Orochimaru as hard as she could. It whizzed past his head, hitting the spider with enough force to carry it a safe distance away from him before it exploded from the impact.

Tsunade ran up to Orochimaru. "We need to pin him down somehow. If I could just get a hold of him…"

"Try if you want but we have more to worry about than just Deidara now," he said.

Jiraiya's and Kakuzu's fight was getting much more widespread as Kakuzu began using larger attacks in response to Jiraiya's rasengan. Orochimaru had barely finished speaking when Jiraiya was forced back toward him and Tsunade by a sprawling lightning attack. It just missed him as he came up next to his teammates, and the centipede and snake that were still grappling nearby were caught in the attack. They both crashed to the ground, unmoving.

Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade all moved to stand back to back as Deidara and Kakuzu closed in on them from either side. Deidara had created six small birds and released them to flutter around him, a few of them landing gently on each of his shoulders. Kakuzu noticed this and narrowed his eyes.

"Remember our deal, Deidara," he said, watching the many birds.

"Yeah, I remember. Keep the bodies recognizable, right? But it seems to me all you really need are the heads. Don't worry. I don't miss. Hm."

"So what now?" Jiraiya asked in a low voice. "Any more plans?"

Orochimaru smirked. Then he tilted his head back slightly and opened his mouth wide. A hilt slowly emerged from his throat and he grabbed it, pulling out a sword and testing his hold on it with a few experimental swings. "An all out attack?" he said, grinning.

Tsunade smiled. "Heh. Yeah, I like it– _Agh!_"

Kakuzu's hand shot out, long grey cables stretching between it and his body, and his fingers closed around Tsunade's throat, lifting her off of the ground.

"Tsunade!" Jiraiya shouted.

Orochimaru turned and brought his sword down on the cables in one fluid motion but the blade could not damage them. Tsunade clawed at the hand gripping her neck but she could not pry it loose; the hold was too tight.

Jiraiya grabbed onto the cables with his left hand and formed the rasengan in his right. At the same time, Orochimaru targeted Kakuzu's body, gripping the sword a little tighter as he ran at him.

He didn't get far. There was a cracking sound and more cables emerged from just under the surface of the cave floor. They twisted around Orochimaru's legs, bringing him to his knees. Then a hand holding a kunai burst forth from underground on the end of the cables and blood splashed across the cave floor as the blade tore through Orochimaru's right arm, leaving a deep cut that reached almost to his shoulder. He could not keep hold of the sword and it clattered onto the stone.

At the same time, Deidara, who had taken to the air on the back of his giant clay bird, swooped down past Jiraiya. A kunai in hand, he also proceeded to dig the blade into Jiraiya's right arm and dragged it down to his wrist, blood spraying from the wound. Jiraiya could not maintain the rasengan and the swirling chakra dispersed harmlessly before it could find its mark.

Tsunade was beginning to lose consciousness. Her vision was darkening and she could not get a strong enough grip on Kakuzu's hand to pry it free. Desperately, she clawed at the fingers until her nails sank into his skin, digging all the way down to the bone. With this, she finally gained enough leverage to put her strength to use, and wrenched the fingers back. There were several sharp snaps and she felt the pressure around her neck lift. Tsunade dropped to the ground but she could not seem to get her legs to work right and hit the stone harder than she had expected. She stayed down, coughing and gasping on the cave floor.

Kakuzu slowly retracted the mangled hand and Jiraiya ran to Tsunade. He knelt beside her and helped her to sit up but his attention was divided as he tried to keep an eye on Deidara who was circling high above. When he glanced at Tsunade again he saw that she wasn't just holding her throat, but trying to heal it, the faint green glow of chakra just barely visible between her hands and neck.

_He wasn't just suffocating her,_ Jiraiya thought. _He must have partially crushed her windpipes. He could have broken her neck._

"That was a little too close, wasn't it?" he said softly as he checked on Deidara's position again.

"I'm… okay," she replied, her voice raspy. "What about you?"

"Fine."

"Orochimaru…" she said as her vision began to clear.

Orochimaru was still caught in Kakuzu's cables, unable to untangle them from around his legs.

"Deidara," Kakuzu called. "Finish this one while I've got him tied down."

"It'll be my pleasure. Hm."

He glided a little lower over his target, but before he could do anything Orochimaru suddenly slipped free of his bonds and headed back toward his teammates, gliding over the stone with eerie fluidity. When he stopped beside Tsunade and Jiraiya they saw why. His legs were gone, replaced with the tail of a snake. Once he reached the others he released the jutsu and his legs returned to normal.

"Heh, too slow," he said, grinning.

The fighting began again in earnest, the Sannin splitting off in three different directions as they searched for openings in the midst of attack and counter-attack.

No one noticed Hidan wander away from his corner to where there was blood streaked across the stone. He crouched and ran his fingers over it, bringing it up close to his face and breathing in the warm scent. His shoulders shook with silent laughter as he looked over at the fighting then back at the blood. He could no longer contain himself.

"I don't even know who this'll kill!" he shouted gleefully. "Whooeee, this is so exciting! Let's see who Lord Jashin has chosen!"

He slid his tongue over his bloody fingertips and the ritual markings darkened his skin. He dragged his foot through the blood on the ground and drew the seal as he slowly pulled out the retractable pike from his cloak. As he extended it, holding it at arm's length, the point hovering above his heart, his laughter escalated. The sound echoed off the cave walls and drew the attention of the others.

"Hidan," Kakuzu said sharply. "What are you doing?"

Orochimaru and Deidara slid away from each other. Orochimaru had finally managed to land a hit on him, tearing off the scope over his left eye and leaving three long bloody gashes along that side of his face. They both stopped then and looked at Hidan.

"What is that?" Orochimaru muttered with some interest.

Hidan's laughter grew wild and he plunged the pike into his own chest. Blood glided over his hands and rose in his throat, and a serene smile settled on his face as he savored the pain. Then the markings faded and he slowly pulled the pike out of the wound.

Tsunade stared, fine tremors running through her. "What… What was–?"

She stopped short when she saw it. Orochimaru was hunched over. He was clutching at his chest.

"Ghk… wh-what–?" he gasped, but blood rose to his mouth and he fell to his knees before collapsing onto the stone.

"Hey, he killed one!" Deidara complained. "That wasn't part of the deal!"

"At least he left the body intact," Kakuzu said mildly.

Tsunade and Jiraiya stared at Orochimaru. He wasn't moving. He wasn't breathing. "No," Tsunade whispered. "No. _No_."

Jiraiya pulled his attention back to Hidan. _H-How… How is this possible?_ _That didn't just happen. It has to be a genjutsu… Something–_

"Orochimaru!" Tsunade ran to him and fell at his side. She blinked back tears as she tried to heal him, but it seemed to have no effect.

_Not again. Not again. I have to be able to save him. Why can't I save him?! _"Dammit!" She punched the ground but there was no strength behind it. Her hands were trembling.

"At least this makes things easier," Kakuzu said. He raised his good hand and it shot out from his body at Tsunade. A second later, Jiraiya was between them, and this time his rasengan found its mark. The cables in Kakuzu's arm twisted until some of them snapped and the hand fell, twitching on the cave floor, as mangled as the hand Tsunade had broken. Kakuzu retracted it slowly, his eyes fierce and fixed on Jiraiya and Tsunade.

"Jiraiya," Tsunade said steadily. "Give me one of your kunai." She held out her hand and Jiraiya reached back to give her the blade, keeping his eyes on their opponents.

"What are you planning?" he asked quietly.

"Something brutal, sadistic, and violent."

But before she could put this plan into action, a slight movement caught her attention. She thought she had imagined it at first, but it came again. Orochimaru's body shuddered. Then, slowly, the mouth was pried open by white hands. It stretched wider until Orochimaru crawled out and lay still for a moment, breathing deeply on the cool stone. He got to his hands and knees but Tsunade stopped him before he could move any further.

"Orochimaru!" she said, her voice full of relief as she helped him to sit up.

"What did I tell you about using that wretched medical jutsu on me?" Orochimaru scolded. He was smirking at her again.

"Shut _up, _you _jerk!_" she shouted, and she threw her arms around him, hiding her face in his hair as tears welled in her eyes again.

"What is this shit?!" Hidan shouted. "Why the fuck aren't you dead?! What the hell are you?!"

Deidara was laughing so hard he had to lean on his clay bird.

"Shut your goddamn hole, Deidara!" Hidan said hysterically. "That little shit should be dead! I don't know how the fuck he did that, but I bet it won't happen again!"

"It won't be that easy, Hidan," Kakuzu said. "He's made himself a new body and this one's not bleeding. _We _did all the work for you last time."

Tsunade pulled away from Orochimaru and glanced back at Kakuzu. "Not bleeding…?" she muttered. She looked more closely at where Hidan was standing. "Some kind of ritual?"

"Screw you!" Hidan shouted at Kakuzu. "It's not my fault that creepy bastard could do something like that!"

"Heh, 'creepy bastard' huh?" Deidara muttered to himself. "You're one to talk. Hm."

"Fuck that shit," Hidan continued. "I'll pick a different target."

"Whoa, whoa. Hold on a second," Deidara shouted. "You're supposed to be staying out of this!"

Hidan ignored him and ran at Jiraiya, swinging his scythe and laughing wildly. Jiraiya dodged, at the same time leading him away from Orochimaru and Tsunade. They clashed blades a few times, Jiraiya fending Hidan off with only a kunai until he saw an opening. For a moment, Hidan lost sight of him and Jiraiya was able to grab the handle of the scythe, twisting it back on Hidan's arm and levering it at an awkward angle. Then he grabbed Hidan's wrist, hooked his own foot around the end of the long handle and pulled. The leverage snapped the bones in Hidan's forearm.

Hidan was still at first, staring at the odd angle his arm now formed, but a second later he was grinning at the pain. Jiraiya backed away immediately but Hidan reached out and grabbed hold of Jiraiya's injured arm. His grip tightened and blood ran over his fingers. For just a second, Hidan met Jiraiya's eyes. "Game over, shithead," he said. Then he let him go and ran back toward the seal.

He was only a few feet away when the ground buckled, knocking him over and cracking the seal he had drawn with Orochimaru's blood. Tsunade ran up to him and stepped on his chest before he could get back up. Then she grabbed his arm and, with one swift tug, tore it off at the shoulder.

"What the hell are you doing you crazy bitch!" Hidan screamed.

"If you think I'll just stand by and watch that happen again, you're the crazy one, you bastard," Tsunade said. She flung the arm out of the cave and it landed with a small splash in the river.

"What the fuck?! Kakuzu! My arm! We gotta get it back!"

Deidara was laughing so hard he could barely stand. "No way!" he said. "How do you like it, huh?! Now just sit and wait like we told you. Hm."

"Deidara,"

Deidara looked back to Kakuzu. "Hm?"

"I think it's time we finish this." He was looking at the cave wall and Deidara followed his gaze. The cracks Tsunade had made in the floor were spreading quickly, creeping up and across the walls of the cave.

Deidara smirked. "No problem. I've got the perfect finale. Hm. You and Hidan get out."

Kakuzu did not question it. "Come on, Hidan. We're leaving."

Deidara climbed back onto the giant bird and flew to the cave entrance. There he made a clone and left it standing in the mouth of the cave. When Hidan realized what Deidara was planning he scrambled to his feet and ran out of the cave after Kakuzu. Then the clone began to expand.

Tsunade backed away from the entrance toward Orochimaru and Jiraiya.

"He's going to explode," Jiraiya said. "The whole cave will come down – it's falling apart already."

The cracks in the walls had become serious enough that rocks were already falling in the mouth of the cave.

"We'll never get through there," Tsunade said. "Orochimaru can hardly stand."

Jiraiya hadn't realized the seriousness of Orochimaru's condition. Between the rejection of his host body and the enormous amount of chakra required for the body shedding technique, he had been left very weak.

"We've got to do _something_," Jiraiya said. "We could make it. Let's–"

"Too late."

Their attention snapped to the clone in the entranceway. He grinned before his face distorted, swelling with volatile chakra. Then white-hot light filled the cave.

"Art… is an explosion!"


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14—Collapse**

Dust rose over the pile of rocks that had once been a cave. Deep within the rubble, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru were clustered tightly together in a space barely large enough for three people. Tsunade's back was pressed to the only cave wall still standing and she was holding up a large piece of rock that kept the rest of the debris from collapsing into that space on top of them.

Jiraiya quickly pulled out a scroll and unrolled it over his knee then carefully breathed a small flame onto it. The fire flickered on top of the seal drawn there, perfectly contained as it lit the tiny space. By this light he was able to find a few loose rocks to wedge their support in place and take the burden off of Tsunade. She closed her eyes and sighed, leaning her shoulder against the wall of rubble.

"Is… Is everybody okay?" she asked breathlessly.

"Tsunade…" Jiraiya whispered.

_Why does he sound… concerned? Consoling? I must be imagining things. There's no reason he would… Everything's fine. It has to be. _All the same, she found she did not want to open her eyes.

"Ts–Tsunade…" Orochimaru said faintly.

Her eyes shot open. They slid down to the ground and found him in the firelight. More than half of his body was caught under the rocks.

"Orochimaru! Just… Just hang on. Maybe we can–" She reached toward him, intending to dig him out.

"Don't!" Jiraiya and Orochimaru both shouted and Orochimaru started coughing, blood spattering the dusty ground. Jiraiya grabbed Tsunade's hand and stopped her.

"We have to be careful," he said quickly. "Or we'll cause a second cave-in."

"Don't be foolish," Orochimaru added weakly. "There's no point even t-trying."

"What do you mean?" Tsunade demanded. She pulled her hand away from Jiraiya.

"You can't help, Tsunade." Orochimaru could only manage to whisper and it took a great deal of effort to keep himself from coughing.

Tsunade stared at him. "You can't be serious. What, do you want us to just leave you here? That's ridiculous–"

"Tsunade…" he said again. "Both of you – just get out. It will be difficult enough… without dragging me along."

"We can't just leave you behind," Jiraiya said.

Orochimaru glanced up at him. "I left you behind easily enough. Left the whole village behind. Heh." He reached out and found Tsunade's hand. "Tsunade… we–we've talked about this before."

"Orochimaru," she whispered.

"Even killing me and never returning to the village would have served Konoha better than what you chose. As Hokage… you should have killed me… and returned."

"That's not the point!" she insisted, her voice breaking.

"Go back to Konoha, Tsunade. What would _they_ think if you gave up…their ambition?"

Her forgotten dream flickered in her mind and she saw once again Nawaki and Dan's names on fire against the black stone. Tears flowing freely, she shut her eyes and tried to nod but her head just hung, her shoulders shaking with quiet sobs.

"…What are we supposed to tell everyone back at the village?" Jiraiya muttered.

Orochimaru laughed softly. "You're the writer," he said. "You come up with a story."

Jiraiya gave him one last glance which he met only briefly before coughing overcame him again.

"Tsunade… there's nothing we can do," Jiraiya said.

Tsunade's hand closed tighter around Orochimaru's. "Don't _you _tell _me_ that, Jiraiya," she snapped. "You don't know anything. Orochimaru, just hold on. There has to be something–"

"My time is up, Tsunade," Orochimaru whispered. "There's no reversing that. Just go."

"No," she breathed, outraged. "No way."

"Tsunade, come on," Jiraiya said gently. She threw a vicious glare at him in the firelight.

"I'm not leaving."

Orochimaru was staring at her, but his vision was becoming clouded. He could not seem to fill his lungs and the pain in his body was beginning to overwhelm his mind. He wanted her to look at him. He wanted to meet her eyes one last time.

"Tsunade." It was the weakest sound yet, but it gained her full attention. She looked at him immediately and he saw the fear and agony on her face. He closed his eyes.

Orochimaru's weak grasp on Tsunade's hand faded. She felt it slip away and her lips formed his name but her voice failed.

"Tsunade, listen to me," Jiraiya said firmly. "He's gone. We have to get out. Do you understand?" She wasn't looking at him; she did not acknowledge him at all. He grabbed her shoulders. "Tsunade!"

"Get off me, Jiraiya!" she shouted at him. "I understand!"

It took her a few minutes to calm her breathing and stop her tears, then the two of them began carefully shifting the rocks. They created a narrow path and worked their way through it until they were finally free, emerging from the rubble as the sun broke the horizon, leaving Orochimaru in the dark.


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15—Truth and Lies**

They trudged through the trees back toward Konoha, Jiraiya almost pulling Tsunade along behind him by her wrist. She had been silent since they left the cave-in and was moving sluggishly. They'd been walking less than an hour when she stumbled and fell. Jiraiya stopped to wait but she did not get back up.

"I can't – I don't want to go any further," she muttered.

Jiraiya looked down at her, sitting on the forest floor, burns along her right arm and leg, bruises on her neck, and covered in blood – not only her own, but Orochimaru's, Jiraiya's, and Hidan's as well.

"Okay," he said. "It's okay." He sat down across from her and she drew her knees up to her chest and put her head down. He thought about saying something to her, trying to comfort her, but it didn't feel right.

_It's better that it ended like this,_ he thought. _Orochimaru was right. She's the Hokage; she shouldn't have had anything more to do with him after he left. He did the right thing in the end…_

_Dammit, he shouldn't have._

"Ugh…" Jiraiya covered his face and got a sharp reminder of the deep gash in his arm. He glanced down at it and saw that his whole side was drenched with blood from the harsh wound. "Dammit," he murmured, trying to stay the bleeding with little success.

"Tsunade," he said gently. "We can't stay here like this. We're falling apart. You're a mess and to be honest, if I lose any more blood you're going to have to drag me back to Konoha."

Tsunade looked up abruptly and hurried to Jiraiya's side. "You should have said something sooner, you idiot," she told him. She had him hold out his arm and laid her hands over the long cut it but her vision kept blurring.

"Dammit…" She rubbed the fresh tears away with the heel of her hand, streaking blood across her face, and tried again, but Jiraiya could see that she couldn't quite bring herself to look at the bloody wound. Once she began healing it, she closed her eyes and Jiraiya stopped her after it had been healed enough to stop the bleeding. He stood then and said, "Let's keep moving. Just a little farther." He held out his hand to help her up. "It'll do us some good."

Tsunade accepted his help and they pressed on a short distance until they came across a small stream. Tsunade sank to her knees beside it gratefully and dipped her hands into the cool water. Faded red clouds rose from them as the blood washed away. A few minutes later, they had cleaned up and started on their way again and Tsunade felt as though she could finally breathe a little easier. But her thoughts were still heavy.

"…Jiraiya," she said quietly as they walked. "I'm sorry."

He glanced over at her. She was looking away and she had that posture of insecurity he'd learned to recognize in her over the years, even rare as it was to see. "…What for?" he asked, though he thought he knew.

"Orochimaru and I… we shouldn't have… I shouldn't have kept our friendship secret from you. After all this… I can't even think why I never told you and I just–"

"It's okay," he interrupted.

"…What?"

"I think I get it," Jiraiya said. "…You two are… similar."

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing," he said quickly. "Just that… you both went through some tough losses when you were young. You were both always so good at developing new and complicated jutsu. You've even each developed original regeneration techniques." He reached over and poked her forehead and she swatted half-heartedly at his hand. "I mean," he continued quietly. "I would be lying if I said I never felt… a little out of place sometimes when the three of us were still a team."

"Jiraiya…" Tsunade said softly but he cut her off.

"Hoo, but he really was an evil bastard wasn't he!" he laughed and Tsunade glared at him, but even she couldn't help but smirk.

"Just a minute…" she said. "You're not still comparing us, are you?"

"A-Ah no. Of course not, heh." _Although,_ he thought, still laughing a little to himself. _That look'll give you chills!_


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16—Allies**

The sun was high and warm in a clear sky when Kankuro and Temari reached the Leaf Village. They had made good time and were eager to finally end their travels, but from down the road they saw that the huge gate into the village was closed. They continued toward it until a kunai suddenly stabbed into the ground in front of them.

"What are you doing here?"

Temari and Kankuro looked up toward the voice. Standing high on guard posts on either side of the gate were two Leaf ninja.

"We were asked to come," Temari called up to them.

"We haven't heard anything about that," one of them said. "We'd have been told if someone from outside the village was supposed to be coming."

"We can't let you in," the other added.

Kankuro leaned over toward Temari. "You know," he muttered. "He's got a point. They never _asked_ us to come. They were just letting us know the situation."

Temari whispered back, "I know but Jiraiya _did _ask us to come."

"He also said they wouldn't be expecting us. Oh!" Kankuro pulled out the scroll Jiraiya had given him and opened it. It was Gaara's reply to the Leaf Village, telling them that Temari and Kankuro were coming.

"Here," Kankuro shouted to the guards. He held up the scroll. "We have a message from the Kazekage that says we were supposed to come."

"From the Kazekage…?" the younger of the two guards turned to his partner. "Should we check it out?"

"Just hold on a second," he answered. "Why wasn't it sent here ahead of you?" he called to Kankuro and Temari.

"It was," Temari said. "But we ran into Master Jiraiya on the way here and he had it with him. We have a message from him to deliver as well."

"That all sounds pretty unlikely," the older guard murmured. "And besides, Master Jiraiya has been under suspicion lately. They said to keep an eye out for him and to double check any orders or information he gives."

"That settles it," the other said. "We're not letting you in. Just go back to your village."

"Are you kidding? No way!" Kankuro shouted. "It took almost three days to get here and now you want us to go back?"

"What's with the shouting?" Shikamaru suddenly appeared, balanced easily on the top of the gate next to the guard post. "Time to change shifts," he told the older guard.

"We've got a problem," the guard told him, pointing. Shikamaru turned his attention to the road below.

"Hey. Temari and Kankuro. What're you doing here?"

"We're _supposed_ to be delivering a message and providing you guys with some backup," Temari answered. "But they won't let us in."

"Here, this might help." Kankuro sealed the scroll from Gaara and threw it to Shikamaru. He read it quickly then closed it and stood silently, thinking it over.

After a little while he said, "You guys ran into Jiraiya, didn't you? He gave you this."

"That's what they told us," the younger guard said.

"All right, well let 'em in."

"What? We can't just–"

"Then don't," Shikamaru sighed. "But your shift is done and I'm taking over for you, so I'm letting them in." He dropped down on the other side of the gate and a moment later it was opening. "You coming or what?" he said to Temari and Kankuro.

"Heh, now that's more like it." Kankuro grinned and they headed into the village.

"Look, it's a pain but I'm taking responsibility for you guys now," Shikamaru said. "So try not to cause any trouble, okay?" He closed the gate. "Just go do what you came to do."

"Thanks, Shikamaru," Temari said, and she and Kankuro ran off toward the Hokage's Residence to deliver their message.


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17—Homecoming**

"The sun's going down," Jiraiya muttered after a drawn out silence as he and Tsunade continued to make their way home. "We should be seeing Konoha any time now…"

Tsunade said nothing, and only a few minutes later the trees thinned and they could see the wall that surrounded their village. They emerged from the forest a short distance off to the side of the main road where the village gates stood. Jiraiya headed toward them but when he glanced back he saw Tsunade still standing at the forest edge.

"Tsunade… what are you doing?"

She didn't answer. She just stood and stared at the grass.

"It'll be okay, Tsunade. Please, we made it this far." He returned to her side. "Let's go home."

"…What… What will you tell them?" she asked quietly. She was startled when he suddenly threw a heavy arm around her shoulders. When she looked up, he was grinning.

"Are you actually worried about that?" He shrugged. "I'll make something up. Something nice and vague that'll probably end in me saving the day."

"Ugh." She shoved his arm off of her and headed for the main road. Jiraiya hurried after her.

The guards posted at the gate had changed shifts again since Shikamaru had let Temari and Kankuro into the village. When they saw Tsunade and Jiraiya approach they were too stunned at first to react. They stared down at the two Sannin in disbelief until Tsunade got impatient. Hand on her hip, she shouted up at the guards. "Well, what's the hold up? Get these gates open!" Jiraiya stifled a laugh.

The guards, shaken from their astonishment, turned to each other and grinned. Then one of them jumped down from her post to open the gates while the other ran into the village, shouting, "She's back!"

The heavy gates opened slowly and already people could be seen running up, lining the main road just inside the village to see if it was true.

"Ugh, you've got to be kidding," Tsunade said under her breath as she eyed the growing crowd.

"Come on," Jiraiya said cheerfully. He nudged her forward and they entered the village to cheers of joy and relief.

Kankuro was standing among the villagers near the gate and soon Temari and Shikamaru ran up beside him as well.

"What happened?" Temari said breathlessly. "Is she back?"

"Yeah, Jiraiya actually did it," Kankuro answered. "…Hey, where've you been anyway?"

"Nowhere. Just around," she said.

"Oh, hey, Shikamaru. I didn't see you there."

"Yeah," Shikamaru said. "It's troublesome but I had to come see what all the commotion was about."

"The Hokage's finally back; you could show a little more enthusiasm," Temari scolded, but Shikamaru just shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged.

"I guess this means you two will be heading home now," he said.

"Man," Kankuro sighed. "And we just got here, too."

"He's right though," Temari said. "We're needed in our own village. We should definitely head out…" Kankuro gave her a look that could have rivaled even Akamaru's puppy dog eyes. "…Tomorrow morning," she conceded with a sigh.

Kankuro brightened immediately. "How about tomorrow _afternoon?_"

"No."

"Tomorrow… after lunch – an early lunch."

"Kankuro…"

Shikamaru smirked and turned away, heading into the crowd, but he glanced back and caught Temari's eye for just a second before disappearing among the villagers.

"…Well, maybe," she said to Kankuro, still looking back.

On the main road, people were flooding into the street behind Tsunade and Jiraiya, following them as they headed toward the Hokage's Residence, but Tsunade suddenly stopped. They had come up beside the hospital. A little smile crossed her lips and she turned off the main path abruptly, grabbing Jiraiya by the arm and dragging him after her as she headed up to the building.

"Ow, Tsunade! I'm injured, remember?" Jiraiya complained. "What are you doing?"

"Sorry," she said. "Force of habit. This is always the first place I end up after being away. I thought I'd just get right to it. Besides, you're injured, remember? Come on."

Jiraiya glanced back as they disappeared through the doors. The crowd had stalled at the gate around the hospital yard, not wanting to disturb the patients inside.

_So that's what she's after, _Jiraiya thought.

Inside, everything was quiet. There was one nurse sitting at the desk in the lobby looking bored when they came in. When she saw them she let out a squeak and ran from the room to tell the other nurses and the patients the news, leaving them alone.

Tsunade looked out the window at the still excited but steadily dispersing crowd. Jiraiya was watching her. He was about to say something but before he could, Tsunade spoke.

"I couldn't very well just abandon my patients." She looked up at him, her eyes wet. "Let's just… leave it at that."


	19. Epilogue

**Epilogue—The White Snake**

The sun was setting over the ruined cave when Deidara and Kakuzu returned to the site. Deidara stepped up to the edge of the rubble and kicked at a loose rock.

"I'll never find it in all this," he sighed. "Hm."

"It was probably crushed anyway," Kakuzu said. "Why was it so important?"

Deidara covered his left eye. The slashes along that side of his face were still sore. "It's my special secret weapon against Itachi." He sighed again and flipped his hair. "Still, I guess it's all right. I can build a new one. Hm."

Hidan walked up to them. He was soaking wet and holding his severed arm. "Oi, Kakuzu! Help me out!"

"Oh," Deidara said grinning. "So you _did_ find it. Good for you. Hm."

"Yeah, I found it. No thanks to you, shitheads," Hidan sneered.

"Hey, Kakuzu, reattach it backwards. Just for fun. Hm."

Kakuzu ignored him and began to reattach Hidan's arm, weaving the threads into his shoulder. "You two have done nothing but bicker and squabble through this whole ordeal," he said. "I thought you two would have gotten along better than this. I'll be glad to be rid of at least one of you."

Deidara just shrugged. "It's true, I can see some artistic value in his rituals – a sort of fleeting beauty – but mostly it's just creepy."

"Hey!" Hidan shouted. "Are you insulting Jashinism, huh, you fucking atheist? Maybe you'd like to feel the true beauty of Lord Jashin's punishment for yourself."

"Heh, no thanks. I've got more important things to do. Hm."

"Enough," Kakuzu said, cutting off their argument. "I'm done. Let's get going."

They separated and headed out, Kakuzu and Hidan in one direction, Deidara in the other.

[X]

The sun was blood red on the horizon now, casting a fiery glow over the debris. A few small rocks fell loose, bouncing down from the pile and splashing into the tranquil river. Then, all at once, boulders were scattered, pushed aside by the emergence of an enormous white snake from the midst of the ruins.

It did not hesitate. In a flash of glistening scales, it darted away from the collapsed cave, not stopping even once, traveling for days until it reached an opening in the ground that was tucked away in a dark forest. It slipped inside, sliding down an incline leading deep underground where the soft glow of firelight lit an extensive hideout.

The serpent rounded a corner in a hallway just as Kabuto was coming out of a room there. When he saw it, he dropped the glass he was holding and it shattered on the smooth stone at his feet, glittering shards skittering in every direction.

The snake opened its mouth, stretching it wider until the opening was large enough that it could have swallowed Kabuto whole where he stood. He didn't dare move, even to take up a weapon. The snake was too close.

Then he saw it. A white hand reached out from the depths of the snake and Orochimaru slowly emerged, dragging himself free of the serpent and standing before Kabuto, though a bit shakily. It seemed, in fact, that he was just barely keeping to his feet. His head and arms hung limp, his hair curtaining his face and blocking it from view.

"L-Lord Orochimaru!" Kabuto said after his surprise had passed. "…Are you all right?"

He heard something that he couldn't identify at first, but then Orochimaru lifted his head, shaking his hair back. He was laughing. In his hand was Deidara's scope – bloody, but intact. His laughter escalated.

"Yes, Kabuto," Orochimaru hissed, grinning. "I'm fine. I just love making progress."

[X]

**More than Enemies—Author's Note**

Hello, all! After 19 chapters of silence, I feel it is safe now to speak without fear of interrupting the illusion.

First, I'd like to especially thank those readers who have left reviews. I really appreciate your enthusiasm and support and hope you will continue to support me and all the authors whose work you enjoy.

More than Enemies started as a spur-of-the-moment fan video my friends and I made at ACen 2010 (which may or may not be floating around YouTube but you didn't hear it from me (it's so awful XD)). I'd like to think the content has greatly improved since then, and that the story has benefited from the absence of my horrendous acting ;)

The development of More than Enemies into a full-blown fic was originally done as a Christmas gift for my girlfriend, and I release it now to all of you only with her permission, as this story belongs to her as much as it does to me.

If you enjoyed this story, I encourage you all to keep an eye out for more from me. This story is far from finished. I still have two separate one-shots plus another full length fic planned in continuation of these events (not to mention the unplanned…). The next piece to look out for will be titled "One Week Later."

Thanks again for reading!

~DS


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